A significant overlap of subject matter explains the decision to review these two books together. Paul Cobb's study concerns itself with the political history of Syria in the late Umayyad and early Abbasid periods. Jacob Lassner's book is more far-reaching, but nearly all of the eleven essays in his book deal with the history and historiography of the early Islamic period. The longest chapter considers the ninth Abbasid caliphate during the Samarran interlude, and in this case he and Cobb are on shared ground.